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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be a little in love with Ben Goldacre?

999 replies

entropyglitter · 09/01/2012 12:15

Just read 'bad science' (finally) and I think I am in love.....

my favourite bit was Gillian McKeith thinking that oxygen (generated by chlorophyll) in your gut is not only plausible, but at all a good idea....

presumably this is at the same time as main lining anti-oxidants (which had been shown to increase your risk of disease rather than decrease it).

OP posts:
ChickensGoMeh · 10/01/2012 13:56

Dh agrees with you, iggly. He read the book and proclaimed 'smug git'. I have yet to read it.

TheParanoidAndroid · 10/01/2012 13:58

I'm a scientist. I don't have a PhD. On no planet is such a thing a basic requirement.

So what if he smokes?

Mamamamoose · 10/01/2012 14:17

I dunno, Stinkingbishop; lots of Oxbridge people still on here, I suppose. I thought they all went mouldy.

stinkingbishop · 10/01/2012 16:50

mama LOL.

I may be a little mildewed...anyway I just find it mildly funny that people who were a bit reticent (or seemed so, maybe 'reticent' is shorthand for 'as an arrogant 18 year old anyone who wasn't part of my social circle was clearly weird') suddenly become successful.

And of course I felt hugely bad when I read Bad Science and thought, he's an interesting egg, could have had some good chats had I been a bit more broadminded at the time!

hackmum · 10/01/2012 19:38

I think he's a brilliant writer. It's really hard to explain complex scientific ideas in terms that lay people can understand and he does it fantastically. So much science reporting in newspapers is appalling that you really need someone like that. I've learnt a lot from reading his columns and his book.

I don't know what he's like as a person, but sadly, he can come across as a bit of a smug git, and I know someone who knows someone who knows him, who confirmed this, so it must be true:-)

But finally...the smoking thing, eh? I've never understood why intelligent people smoke, never. It just amazes me. I know why thick people smoke, but why, if you understand all the risks, would you carry on doing it? Or even start in the first place? "Because I enjoy it" seems very feeble to me. Obviously I'm missing something.

Heleninahandcart · 10/01/2012 20:10

entropyglitter Apologies. It's the joy of dyslexia, I'm quite proud that at least I was consistent. I had no idea that entropy existed, never mind what it meant. I learn something every day Grin

As for spelling my intended DH's name wrong, all PhDs have an H in their name if they are proper scientists.

Got to go now, he wants a cigarette.

silentcatastrophe · 10/01/2012 20:25

I've stopped listening to him. He rants for Britain. Very angry man I think. I think he'd rant at a toaster.

TheFallenMadonna · 10/01/2012 20:33

I use some of his stuff in my lessons, but I don't find myself warming to him.

He is perfectly adequately qualified as a scientist though. Bit daft to claim otherwise.

seeker · 10/01/2012 20:39

He's very angry because the things he talks about make any sane person very angry.

LiegeAndLief · 10/01/2012 20:42

I opened this thread to agree with the op, but as someone who was in gainful employment as a research scientist with a measly BSc I have to disagree strongly with the idea that a PhD is a basic requirement for a scientist. I have had to work with some suprisingly stupid post docs.

My friend told me recently that she had seen Ben Goldacre, Brian Cox and Tim Minchin on the Uncaged Monkeys tour. I was nearly sick with jealousy.

OnlyANinja · 10/01/2012 20:42

It's £1.99 on Kindle at the moment.

TeWihara · 10/01/2012 20:43

I think re-explaining concepts with multiple examples is very important if you want to make your work accessible to everyone.

I found the fact that he has done a philosophy degree very interesting though - phdlife were you thinking of fallacy by example? Bit poor of a philosopher to use what they know to write something deliberately misleading.

OnlyANinja · 10/01/2012 20:43

He wrote an interesting book but YABU to be in love with him for just that.

(I'm assuming you've never met him)

Original poster
entropyglitter · 10/01/2012 20:50

only well yeah I guess but then I am DEEPLY in love with Sherlock and he's a fictional character....

liege lol at really stupid postdocs! I think the method of PhD examination leaves a lot to be desired....there is definitely a sense that anyone who has spent more than 3 years trying to get a phd should probably get it even if they cant explain their own work...

Helen ohhhh I have an H in my real name to go with my phd too! Although my DH doesn't - I KNEW he didnt really deserve his...

OP posts:
LiegeAndLief · 10/01/2012 20:55

OnlyANinja, is your user name a mad coincidence or are you also a Tim Minchin fan?

Now I'm a little bit in love with Ben, but Tim I am madly head over heels in love with. I am willing to be swayed if someone can tell me that Ben plays the piano like a god and wears eye liner and no shoes (presumably when no one is looking).

OnlyANinja · 10/01/2012 20:57

If you hover over my name with your cursor you may get an answer to that... Wink

LiegeAndLief · 10/01/2012 21:11

Ha ha ha I didn't know you could do that! I'm a bit technologically challenged...

Entropy has one too! I might while away the evening hovering over everyone's user name now.

iggly2 · 10/01/2012 21:21

TeWihara Tue 10-Jan-12 20:43:04

"I think re-explaining concepts with multiple examples is very important if you want to make your work accessible to everyone."

Using multiple examples is good (I said I like that). However he will frequently use one of the examples and reword it a few times this is what I found patronising.

iggly2 · 10/01/2012 21:22

The curls are cute though Blush.

iggly2 · 10/01/2012 21:23

Being in loveeeeeeee with Sherlock (and House) perfectly acceptable Grin.

FuriousRox · 10/01/2012 22:45

Ooh I was chatted up by him at a party once. Or did I chat him up? Hard to recall exactly. It was a long time ago. I do like his energy and the general drift of what he does re ridiculing homeopathy (in case of overdose, consult a lifeguard, etc), but he is quite rude to people and I reckon he would get annoying very quickly. So yabu, I suppose, but not very.

perfectstorm · 11/01/2012 02:37

If this is a Ben Goldacre thread with Tim Minchin mention, I can't leave it. I must post .

seeker · 11/01/2012 07:16

I do have a sneaking suspicion that people who attack BG for being smug, or patronising, or for having bad hair or for smoking or for being smelly as an undergraduate (!) are actually people who don't like having their beliefs challenged. He seems to me to be unchallengeable on his interpretation of facts- personal abuse is the last bastion of the hard of thinking.

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